CAT BIRD. 
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whole, though we cannot arrange him with the grand 
leaders of our vernal choristers, he well merits a place 
among the most agreeable general performers. 
This bird, as has been before observed, is very 
numerous in summer, in the middle States. Scarcely a 
thicket in the country is without its cat birds ; and, 
were they to fly in flocks, like many other birds, they 
would darken the air with their numbers. But their 
migrations are seldom observed, owing to their gradual 
progress and recession, in spring and autumn, to and 
from their breeding places. They enter Georgia late 
in February, and reach New England about the begin- 
ning of May. In their migrations, they keep pace with 
the progress of agriculture ; and the first settlers in 
many parts of the Gennesee country, have told me, 
that it was several years, after they removed there, 
before the cat bird made his appearance among them. 
With all these amiable qualities to recommend him, few 
people in the country respect the cat bird; on the 
contrary, it is generally the object of dislike ; and the 
boys of the United States entertain the same prejudice 
and contempt for this bird, its nest and young, as those 
of Britain do for the yellowhammer, and its nest, eggs, 
and young. I am at a loss to account for this cruel 
prejudice. Even those by whom it is entertained, can 
scarcely tell you why ; only they “ hate cat birds as 
some persons tell you they hate Frenchmen, they hate 
Dutchmen, &c; expressions that bespeak their own 
narrowness of understanding, and want of liberality. 
Yet, after ruminating over in my own mind all the 
probable causes, I think I have at last hit on some of 
them ; the principal of which seems to me to he a 
certain similarity of taste, and clashing of interest, 
between the cat bird and the farmer. The cat bird is 
fond of large ripe garden strawberries ; so is the farmer, 
for the good price they bring in market : the cat bird 
loves the best and richest early cherries ; so does the 
farmer, for they are sometimes the most profitable of 
his early fruit : the cat bird has a particular partiality 
for the finest ripe mellow pears ; and these are also 
